The
invasion began just as the United States celebrated its 200th
birthday. As our nation's merchandisers were distracted by fulfilling
the ravenous public demand for Liberty Bell paperweights and Uncle Sam
beer mugs, a new character brand slipped in over the border. Even if they
had noticed this innocuous-looking creature, it's doubtful whether patriotic
toymakers, publishers, or studios would have felt the slightest bit of
alarm. What possible hope could this albino cat from Japan have to compete
with such All-American titans of product licensing as Snoopy or (by God!)
Mickey Mouse?

But
today, nearly 30 years later, the "Hello Kitty" logo of a mouthless white
cat can be found on, well, everything: toaster ovens, computer
keyboards, coffee makers, purses, telephones, vibrators, and around 22,000
other products currently on the market. Owned by Sanrio
Company, Ltd., the Hello Kitty brand is a global, billion-dollar enterprise
with entrenched roots in the American market. From its first U.S. boutique
opened in 1976 at San Jose, Calif.'s Eastridge Mall, Sanrio has expanded
its reach into 4,000 stores, including 200 Sanrio-specific shops.

But
what is Sanrio selling, exactly?

Founded
in 1960 by Shintaro Tsuji, the Tokyo-based company specializes in creating
character-branded merchandise. (Other Sanrio characters include Chococat,
Cinnamoroll, and, of course, Dokidoki Yummychumsthough Hello Kitty
is by far the biggest seller.) All of these lil' critters are ridiculously
cute. But unlike most of their American counterparts in the character-branded
product world, Sanrio's characters exist only as logos. They do not begin
life by starring in cartoon shows or comic strips, and they lack the fully
formed personalities and backstories that, say, the Powerpuff Girls or
SpongeBob SquarePants bring to the marketing table. Nevertheless, both
children and adult consumers here dutifully buy up damn near any product
bearing the logo of this distinctly Japanese creation. Why?

For
answers, we turned to the men who wrote the book on Hello Kittythat
is, Hello
Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon.
Co-author Ken Belson is a New York Times reporter covering Japanese
business, economics, and government, while Brian Bremner is the Asia Economics
Editor for Business Week magazine. Both journalists live in Tokyo
where they receive daily exposure to Japanese pop culture and its many
permutations, such as "kawaii" (cute) culture, of which Hello Kitty is
the wellspring. With their steely business-reporter nerves, the authors
calmly dissect the economics of mass-produced innocence in this interview,
writing their answers together.

What
is Hello Kitty?

A
simple answer is that she is a well-crafted, well-proportioned kids
doll. Pure and simple, she was designed to amuse little girls, and in
that shes been a wild success. For those of us in the business of
analyzing all that, shes a Zen character that just IS, Buddha-like
in her demeanor, a Mona Lisa in her romantic appeal to some, a symbol
of crass, saccharine-sweet consumerism to others. Oh, yeahshe also
generates billions of dollars in sales every year.

Does
it relate to any other Japanese cultural icons?

So
far as we know, she was invented pure and simple. Her original designer,
however, took inspiration from the cats in Through the Looking Glass.
Some say she also looks disturbingly like Miffy, a two-dimensional long-earned
rabbit that lives on tissue packets and lunch boxes. More broadly, she
was designed during an era when animals were all the rage with kids: Snoopy,
Mickey, Lassie, unicorns, and giraffes, whatever.

How
was it created?

In
the early '70s, Sanrio was trying to develop its own in-house design department.
The president, Shintaro Tsuji told his group to draw animals. In 1974,
a young designer named Yuko Shimizu came up with the design for Kitty,
which Tsuji said left him with a "not too bad" impression. The product
quickly caught on and dwarfed the rest of the companys sales with
in a year or two. So much for gut instinct. Shimizu left Sanrio to get
married and start her own family two years later. In some small way, you
could compare her to Pete Best, the Beatles drummer who left the
band just before Ringo Starr joined and the Fab Four rocketed to fame.

What
was the first Hello Kitty product?

Product
#1 was a small clear vinyl coin purse. Kittys image is on the side.
Her body faces to the right and her head is turned 90 degrees to the front.
Above her head, just below the metals snaps, is the word "Hello!" in red
letters. The keepsake was designed for kids and cost 240 yen (less than
$1 at the time, but about $2 today).

Has
the design of the logo evolved, or is it unchanged?

Unlike
most American characters, whose use and design is tightly controlled,
Kitty changes constantly. Each year, the designers come up with a new
theme for Kittyplaid one year, in pink another, a princess with
a tiara in other years. These designs establish broader themes like her
basic colors. But shes plastered on so many things in so many poses
that its hard to pin down an exact number. My favorite design is
Robo Kitty. Kitty wears a helmet just like Robo Cop and has a robot body.
Its completely out of control.

How
does Hello Kitty fit into the Japanese pop culture landscape?

In
some ways, Sanrio is the creator of a major strain in modern Japanese
pop culture, though this was largely unintentional. The company, driven
by its founder Shintaro Tsuji, was one of the first in Japan to turn cute
as a commodity. Tsuji combined Japans gift-giving culture with simple
designs and packaged it affordably.

Tsuji
also recognized early on that cute could be sold to adults, too. As early
as the 1970s, he was already creating lines of products for young women
who wanted in some small way to hang on to their childhood. Japan was
ripe for this, as we discuss in the book, but Sanrio developed it into
a unique and profitable market.

Why
does so much of Japanese pop culture revolve around cuteness?

Japanese
cute, or kawaii culture, isnt just a passing
fad. It is something close to an aesthetic value in Japan. You can see
it in all forms of pop culture, and marketing and the sheer visual landscape
of modern, urban Japan. In J-Pop, you have girl groups such as Morning
Musume affecting high-pitched voices, cute mannerisms, and a child-like
quality. Character goods, especially ultra-cute ones, are pitchmen for
banks, Ministry of Finance, and all sorts of consumer products. Even in
Japanese pornography, young girls often sporting school uniforms are something
of a sexual ideal.

Where
did this come from? Well, first you didnt
see young girls acting like this in the Edo era. It really came to life
in the mid-1970s when Japan really emerged as a rich, consumer-driven
culture and Japanese youth started to have a disposable income. Cute handwriting
trends and even a baby talk phase took hold during this period. It wasnt
long before Sanrio and other companies geared to the youth market recognized
this and tried to commercially exploit this. Some commentators think that
Hello Kitty, at the symbolic level at least, represents a sort of weird
girl power movement focused on whimsy and consumption. Cultural conservatives
think this is rather dangerous and that such values contribute to weak
submissive women who purposely act clueless and never want to grow up.
Feminists also deplore Hello Kitty and the values she represents. Whatever
side of the debate you fall on in Japan, though, you have to admit this
is one deep cat.